Writing Short Stories 10+ at a Time with the 10X Story Matrix
A proven method to get you generating and writing 10+ short stories in parallel—faster, easier, and with better results.
👉 Struggle to finish writing short stories?
👉 Run out of unique ideas?
👉 Stuck on 1 big idea that refuses to cooperate?
You're not alone. I was trapped in the same cycle—excited about a story idea, only to abandon it halfway through. I fixed that by developing a process where I write 10 or more short stories at once, improving my creativity, speed, and quality along the way.
I call it The 10X Story Matrix, and it completely transformed my writing process. My goal is to show you how to:
✅ Quickly generate 10 to 20 high-quality short story ideas.
✅ Turn those ideas into Minimal Initial Story Premises (MISPs).
✅ Develop and write multiple stories at the same time—without burnout.
It’s the exact opposite of what most writers do.
Instead of waiting for inspiration, we build stories—like assembling a puzzle. And it works. It also aligns well with the think like a publisher mindset.
Artist Chuck Close once said:
Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work.
💡 Instead of waiting for inspiration, we assemble stories from components. This isn’t a complete class in how to write short fiction. Instead, I’ll lay out below how my alternative short story writing process works and let you adapt it for your own. Be sure to see my examples.
Here’s the short version of how the 10X Story Matrix works:
Instead of trying to think up a story out of nowhere, we create lists of potential story elements. As we’ll soon see, the elements in these lists become the building blocks of our stories.
We mix and match those core elements and place them in a matrix.
We then develop, write, and publish multiple stories.
I intend to make short stories a major part of my self-publishing empire. This is the way.
<insert evil laugh>
Why Writing Multiple Short Stories at Once Works
Many writers get stuck on 1 big idea. That idea feels too important, too precious, so they overthink, rewrite endlessly, and never finish.
Perfectionism kills dreams. The 1 big idea is a curse.
Writing short stories 10 at a time removes that pressure. If your current story isn’t working, you shift to another. By the time you loop back, fresh ideas are flowing.
No more perfectionism.
No more abandoned drafts.
No more waiting for inspiration.
Your job is not to come up with a story premise, but instead to figure out how the components fit together and allow the story premise to reveal itself. Like a puzzle.
👉 Join me as we go not through the looking glass, but instead take a deep dive into the 10X Story Matrix. There, we will generate short story ideas, then create and write those stories, 10 or more at a time. Unlike Neo in The Matrix, no pill required—just a laptop (and there was much rejoicing!).
Enter: The 10X Story Matrix—the fastest way to unlock unlimited short story ideas and write them in parallel.
The 10X Story Matrix
Instead of laboring over 1 story at a time, this system forces you to:
Generate lots of story ideas quickly—10+ in a single session.
Draft multiple stories in parallel—up to 10 at a time, more if you choose.
Focus on volume—because quantity leads to quality (it really does).
It’s counterintuitive, but working on 10 stories at once isn’t 10 times as hard. In some ways, it’s easier. And, it doesn't take 10 times as long. In fact, you’ll create and finish stories faster than ever. Ready to go step-by-step with me?
I’ll take that as a yes. Awesome! But first, this…
Captain Picard: “I wish I could spare a few centuries to learn.”
Anij: “It took us centuries to learn that it doesn't have to take centuries to learn.”
Star Trek: Insurrection
Don’t worry, it won’t take you centuries to learn.
The 10X Story Matrix: How to Write Short Stories Faster
A little bit about the process before we dive into the practical. This approach might feel like a radical shift, especially if you’re a pantser who prefers to let stories unfold organically.
It may seem mechanical at first. Stick with it. You’ll surprise yourself with the compelling characters and stories you create, often faster than ever before.
What This Won’t Do
This is not a cure-all:
This method won’t teach you how to write a great story.
It’s not a magic wand. It won’t finish your drafts for you. You have to put in the work.
What This Will Do is Help You:
Generate short story ideas (that can be expanded).
Write multiple short stories in parallel.
Improve both your output and quality.
What This Method Does
Flexes your creative muscles: You’ll write more stories, so you’ll sharpen your skills that much faster.
Boosts your speed: Focusing on multiple stories at once means you’ll get better at starting and finishing drafts.
Increases your publishing potential: More finished drafts means more opportunities to publish.
Let’s go! 🔥
Step 1: Create Unique Short Story Characters with Big Problems
The “secret” to writing great stories is to create a boatload of story ideas.
To do that, you don’t start with a story idea (weird, I know).
Instead, what you start with is an array of puzzle pieces that can be fit together and mixed and matched in different ways. From there, you can create unique story ideas that you transform into original, interesting short stories. Lots of them it turns out.
The first piece of the puzzle to create is the main character…
Main Character (MC) creation
Think of 10-30 characters a reader might give a crap about. They can be based on people you know, famous people, people in history, totally made up… up to you.
Give each a big, fat problem—a challenge, an obstacle. The problem doesn’t have to be world ending, but It has to matter to the character.
Use whatever type of note taking app or writing tool you like:
Pen and paper
Whiteboard
Dictation
Computer/phone/tablet
Starting out with pen and paper may spark different ideas than you’d get by typing into a phone or computer. Dictation and white boards also yield different ideas.
Different ideas lead to different outcomes, so feel free to experiment.
Whatever method or tool you choose, the objective is to get 10 solid MCs, each with a problem or obstacle. It may take more than 20 to get 10 solid ones you want to write about.
The problem with problems
If you have trouble throwing the obstacle in the way, make the big, fat problem related to the character’s life:
What the character does for a living.
The character’s hobbies, lifestyle, interests, or interpersonal relationships.
A core principle or belief the character holds.
Another way is to give your characters universal problems. A universal problem is a problem that could apply to almost anyone if the circumstances are right. Examples:
An arrest.
Current events.
False accusation.
Approaching hurricane.
Loss of a home or dwelling.
Swindled out of family savings.
Neighbor with a serious plumbing issue.
Loss of a job or income or business failure.
A dead body in the living room/office (could happen).
An angry dude with an axe who won’t go away (sounds familiar).
I like to create characters with problems that are potentially funny or sad, ironic, thought provoking, sometimes ridiculous, surprising, or even outrageous. I also like to steal them from my real life or the news in a “ripped from the headlines” move.
Examples:
Lawyer with dementia.
Young girl with no toys.
Mechanic without tools.
Vampire allergic to blood.
Demon with a conscience.
Doctor with a drug problem.
Preacher accused of murder.
Psychiatrist with hallucinations.
Food critic with inability to taste.
Politician who suddenly can’t speak.
Fisherman with no boat/fish/customers.
Manager with insubordinate employees.
Messenger with envelope with white powder.
Judge with a dead body in his office/home/pool.
Delivery person with an explosive/missing/illegal package.
The character + problem process is free flowing and problems aren’t always what they seem. Take this character/problem combo:
“Young girl with no toys.”
What kind of problems might a young girl have? I thought of a lonely girl who doesn’t have toys because her family can’t afford toys, but…
What if we change it up? Maybe she has no toys because she has the power of psychokinesis but can’t control it. Every time her parents give her a toy, it comes to life and kills people she believes have wronged her or her family.
Since her toys are killing people, she simply can’t have toys. I didn’t see that coming. At all.
Let’s think about this other character:
“Lawyer with dementia.”
Lawyers need to have good memory and be precise, so this problem would significantly impact the character’s work. That creates drama.
Let’s raise the stakes. Imagine a world famous lawyer who is hit with a dementia diagnosis just as she is beginning to work on the most important case of her life. We barely scratched the surface and already have a compelling story idea: a MC we can empathize with and the basis for internal and external conflict.
Struggling with Characters?
You’re not alone, but I’ve got you covered. If you struggle to come up with a MC with a problem, here’s what to do:
Flip it around. Think of the desire first and then create a character to match the desire. Then add the problem/obstacle that impedes that desire.
Let’s say your character loves ice cream. Create an ice cream shortage. Better still, create a maniacal beast that consumes ice cream and people who like ice cream along with it.
Example:
Desire: To be famous.
Character: Eager Actor.
Problem/Obstacle: Has no acting talent.
A talentless actor who wants to be famous. Where have I heard that before?
You can replace actor with musician, artist, designer, architect, author, or bankrupt casino owner and their matching talent or rather lack thereof.
Making characters more interesting
You can enhance the characters by adding some modifiers. Give the character a quirk or a trait. Create some contrast. Contrast = drama. Examples:
Anxious astronaut + problem.
Reluctant vampire + problem.
Stressed out doctor + problem.
Unstable manager with insubordinate employees.
Perfectionist delivery person with an explosive/missing/illegal package.
These elements not only make the character more interesting, they gives us more possibilities when generating a story idea. If it magnifies the problem you chose for the character, all the better.
Step 2: Intriguing Locations
The next piece of the puzzle is an intriguing location or setting. Think of 10-30 locations that are different, unusual, fascinating, exotic, etc. Given the right mix of elements, the mundane can be interesting or even preferred, but unusual is often better.
Examples:
Movie set
TV studio
Bank vault
Ancient castle
Mount Everest
Volcanic crater
Nuclear reactor
Giant lava tube
Desolate planet
Operating room
Custody hearing
Las Vegas casino
Judge’s chambers
The French Riviera
Particle accelerator
Small village in Kenya
Magic palace in the sky
Abandoned space station
Newly terraformed planet
Board room of a Fortune 500
Step 3: Unusual Objects and Interesting Things (Nouns)
Think of 10-30 unusual objects or interesting things. Note that “object” or “thing” in this context could be: personal items, possessions, spirits, creatures, aliens, robots, androids, a clairvoyant talking dog, a sentient computer, things in nature, or a magic toothpick.
It could also be a place or an event, like a carnival, a fair, a rock concert, a Halloween themed wedding, or even a beach house in Malibu.
Note: The lines get blurred here with locations (settings). You’ll see how I handle this in my example below with the abandoned warehouse.
It could also be someone who fills a role, like a non-player character (NPC) in a video game. Examples would be lighthouse keeper, harbor master, security guard, front desk clerk, etc.
Pretty much anything goes. Fly be free, little imagination.
Items on this list can end up being gimmicks, props, additional characters, or secondary settings for your story. Give them as short a description as possible. Examples:
Old book
Rare coin
Moon rock
Magic box
Shark's tooth
Single slipper
Kissing booth
Magic podium
Haunted house
Diamond Pendant
Mysterious Stranger
Abandoned warehouse
Undelivered Christmas present
Ancient artifact from the Amazon jungle
Step 4: How to Combine Story Elements into a Short Story
This is where we fill up our matrix with the core elements, building the story puzzle, as it were. You should now have, at a minimum, 10 or more of each of these:
Characters with big fat problems.
Locations.
Objects/Things.
This is the minimum you need to create and start writing a unique short story with this method.
The Steps
We’re going to mix and match the elements we created in steps 1-3 to create the basis for our story ideas. We’ll then form our initial story premise in the next step as you’ll soon see in my example below.
1️⃣ Pick 1 character with a strong problem.
2️⃣ Pick 1 intriguing location.
3️⃣ Pick 1 unusual object.
4️⃣ Combine them in unexpected ways to form the Minimal Initial Story Premise (MISP).
5️⃣ Repeat 10 times.
If you’re feeling ambitious, go for 20. You need a lot of story ideas to get a few good ones.
I’ve added 5 to a spreadsheet as an example.
Here is a link to the → 10X Story Matrix Template. ← Download this simple template (it’s a Google Sheet) and fill it in as you create your ideas and stories. Add columns as needed as you adopt the process and adapt it to make it your own.
Step 5: Your Minimal Initial Story Premise (MISP)
Now our short story ideas will begin to take shape. For each story, create a minimal initial story premise from which the story can flow (example below).
More often than not, the twist and the resolution come to me as the story comes to life. You can include them in your MISP if you know them up front.
Example MISP
I’ve chosen these elements for my short story and added them to my matrix spreadsheet:
Character: Doctor with a drug problem.
Location: Las Vegas casino.
Object or thing: Abandoned warehouse.
We have a doctor with a drug problem who somehow ends up in a Las Vegas casino. And, we have to figure out how to work in the abandoned warehouse, which seems a little off at first.
But wait… the start of a story is forming in my mind, and it’s not at all what I thought it was going to be:
A brilliant doctor discovers a cure for Alzheimer’s—until someone drugs her right before she announces it in Las Vegas. As the paramedics take her away, the pharmaceutical company she works for announces she has a problem with drugs and alcohol and has gone into rehab. In truth, she wakes up in an abandoned warehouse equipped like a hospital facility, where a team is attempting to wipe her memory with technology the company has developed—from her cure.
I have no idea what happens next yet, but the initial short story premise, the MISP, is different from what I thought it would be.
Rather than a more predictable story about addiction, temptation, and recovery in Las Vegas, we have a corporate medical techno-thriller with a kidnapping thrown in.
A villain is starting to take shape: someone in or associated with the company? Or perhaps a cartel of drug companies? Is a rogue faction of a government agency behind all this? Did they weaponize her technology? I have no idea yet.
This was all unexpected, which is why I really enjoy building stories this way. Instead of agonizing over creating the story idea first, you build your pieces of the puzzle and the story reveals itself from that foundation. But you’re not locked in…
Short Story Switcheroo
You can easily switch things around and build out different stories from the same basic pieces. You can add and replace pieces to build out more unique short stories.
At a quick glance, I can see this story morphing into several other stories. Let me flesh them out a bit:
A gambling, pill-popping doctor ends up trapped in a haunted warehouse, lured there by the ghost of a former patient he accidentally killed during surgery.
While attending a medical convention in Las Vegas, a pharmaceutical rep and his lover are targeted by a drug cartel when the rep is mistaken for a European doctor, the head of a designer drug distribution ring.
When his witness protection detail is killed, a former crime syndicate doctor uses the Las Vegas strip to hide, only to stumble upon a crime ring being run from inside the U.S. Government.
While tracking down a missing wealthy doctor with a drug problem, a hard drinking, disgraced former police officer turned private investigator discovers an abandoned warehouse in Las Vegas is the gateway to a horrible underground riddled with sex, drugs, and human trafficking.
It took about 10 minutes to turn 1 story into 5, and about 10 more to flesh them out to that point and edit those descriptions. And this is only the first of the 10 story ideas generated from this exercise. It’s easy for your initial 10 to become 30 or more.
Keep it Short
The danger (for me) is a story that starts to feel like it wants to be novel-sized. I don’t need another unfinished novel. The trick is to keep it confined to a short story by including only the essential elements. Using the MISP helps this by not expanding the premise into a huge story.
👉 Once you have 10 combinations of 10 main characters with problems, 10 locations, 10 things, and a premise for each story, you can move on to the next step.
Step 6: Sidekicks (Optional)
To sidekick or not to sidekick:
I rarely include a sidekick, especially in the initial planning. If you do, make sure there’s a good reason. Some stories are tighter and better without one.
To create a sidekick, think of a unique, supporting character. Then give them an interesting trait or quirk.
Struggling with Sidekicks?
If you struggle to create sidekick characters, try this:
1—Think of the quirk first (someone who is boisterous and talks a lot and loudly).
Then think of:
A place where that quirk (boisterous behavior) would be out of place (library, museum).
Or a character, job, role, hobby, or activity where that would be a challenge, unexpected, ironic, or out of place.
Examples:
A librarian
A mortuary owner
A museum curator
A yoga enthusiast
A college professor
A movie theater usher
2—Or, think of the character first (a friendly barista) and then think of a quirk that would impact them or challenge them. What is something that would modify or make difficult the things that person is able to do? Clumsiness. So my sidekick character with a quirk is a clumsy but friendly barista who spills coffee all over the place.
Examples:
Talking cat 😺
Cop afraid of guns
Vegetarian werewolf
Quick witted child prodigy
Spy who can’t keep a secret
Travel blogger with a fear of flying
Safe cracker who is losing his hearing
Cold weather hating retired Olympic skier
Aging swordsman with a drinking problem
Ghost with a hankering for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Step 7: A Villain (optional)
Some stories beg for an obvious big bad villain. Sometimes the villain is built into the obstacle you’ve already created for your character. You can either create your villain now, or let the villain reveal him- or herself as you write each story.
One method is to create a villain whose desires put them in direct conflict with the main character. Whatever the character needs, the villain either needs it too, or needs for the MC not to have it.
Example:
MC enters a contest to win a suitcase full of money to pay for her mother’s medical treatment and save her life.
Villain needs that same money for equally important reasons, or
Villain doesn’t need the money, but instead needs the MC to fail at acquiring it.
Short stories being short, there’s not a lot of room to flesh out each character, but hints of some humanity in a villain can make the story more engaging.
My villains usually take shape as I write the story.
Step 8: Your Story Structure
There are tons of plot formulas and story structures to choose from. If you’re new to writing short stories, I suggest the 3 act structure.
Some story structures or frameworks work best with longer stories, but can adapted for shorter works. Here are some that work well for short stories:
The 3 Act Structure
The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson
The Lester Dent formula is specifically for short stories (of 6,000 words). The Snowflake Method was designed for novels, but since its core is simplicity, it can be adapted.
I continue to experiment with my process, but I’m a plantser. That means I create an initial premise, plot some, and then pants it. If you’re more of a detailed plotter, you can plot the whole thing out.
As long as it makes sense, you can write any kind of story you like, using any framework or POV (point-of-view). You just have to keep it short.
Step 9: Writing Short Stories at Speed
Do not pass judgement, do not collect $200. Sometimes some of the story ideas appeal to me more than others. It’s dangerous to play favorites at this point.
A story that doesn’t look great at first will sometimes be among the best after the revision phase. Or, you may end up blending stories together and borrowing elements from 1 story to improve another.
For those reasons alone, it’s worth fleshing out and writing all the story ideas you’ve got.
We’re throwing the figurative spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, but thoughtfully, and with purpose. The goal is not a bunch of crappy stories. The goal is to find the gold among rocks, the gems among the stones. You can’t see what you’ve really got until you’ve really got something. Don’t judge (yet).
Flesh out the best, flush the rest. What happens if you find out a story isn’t going to work for you? No harm, no foul. Not all your stories will be great, which is the whole point.
If you run into a clunker, switch to another of your stories and work on that. Come back to the problem child later. If you still can’t make it work after a few tries, shelve it for now, or flush it for good and move on.
How Long is a Short Story?
What word count should you aim for? Opinions vary on story length, but for our purposes, I shoot for at least 1,000 but under 7,500 words. See the FAQ section below.
Completing Your Short Stories
All this is for nothing if we don’t cross the finish line. The simplest way I’ve found to complete the stories is to write Act I of the story for each of the 10, then write Act II for each, then write Act III of the story for each.
If you have another framework or structure you prefer, go for it. This is where your writing habit, your routine, your ritual, finally pays off, in the writing phase.
So go ahead and write your stories.
And… we’re done!
Step 10: Celebrate!
Enjoy a beverage. 🍻🍷🥤
What’s Next?
Wow. That was a lot. If you made it this far, congratulations! 🍾🎉🎊
I think Jazzy is proud of me (and you). 😺⬇️
As usual, you’re not quite as done as you’d like to be. You now have 10 short stories in draft mode. From here, revise, edit and polish, proofread, you know… do all the things.
Then what? Publish your stories and dance, dance, dance.
So Many Stories, So Little Time
"Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you're comfortable with."
-Jerry Seinfeld
Since I'm not into torture, instead of sitting there waiting for the inspiration lightning to strike, I use the 10X Story Matrix method to build stories from components I create.
I find that action begets action and stories beget stories. Following this method cuts right through several of the causes of writer’s block. After doing this exercise a few times, more and more stories began to reveal themselves. Some pop into my head long after I’ve left my keyboard in the dust.
As you saw from my examples above, I can take the same basic elements in multiple directions, add something here, sprinkle in a twist over there, and boom… I’ve got a totally different set of stories. With so much material to work with, the idea flow has been pretty much endless for me.
I write in different genres, swap characters, and write different stories in the same universe. Some of these tiny tales become spin-offs, or flash fiction (even tinier!). Others are potential novella or novel ideas.
My favorite thing to do, though, is turn a short story into a series of short stories. At least 1 of the stories out of 10 can often be turned into a series. That’s where the magic happens as it paves the way to becoming a high velocity author.
Developing this process took some time, but since I started it, my story idea factory has been on fire. 🔥🔥🔥
Let me know if any or all of this is helpful, if you have questions (see the FAQ section below), and if you want to see more of this type of “here’s what I do and you can, too” stuff. Happy writing!
📖 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How do I generate short story ideas quickly?
Use the 10X Story Matrix method:
Create 10+ unique characters, each with a compelling problem.
Pick 10 different settings that spark curiosity.
Select 10 objects, things, or events to add tension, intrigue, or a new dimension.
Mix & match these elements to form unique Minimal Initial Story Premises (MISPs).
With this method, you can generate 10+ short story ideas in less than 30 minutes!
2. Can I use this method for novels or novellas?
Yes! The 10X Story Matrix works for:
✔ Novellas & novels – Expand your short story idea and complexificate it.
✔ Series – Turn a single short story into a multi-part series by adding an extra twist.
✔ Writing sprints – Great for NaNoWriMo (I know!) or rapid drafting.
Short stories often become the foundation for larger works!
3. Does writing multiple stories at once really improve quality?
Surprisingly, yes! Here’s why:
✔ Stops over-editing 1 story to death – You’re always moving forward and spreading the risk.
✔ Prevents writer’s block – If you’re stuck, switch to another story, then switch back.
✔ Boosts creativity – Writing short stories in parallel makes your brain form unexpected connections. Steal from 1 story to feed another.
Focusing on volume over perfection actually leads to better writing.
4. How long should a short story be?
There’s no fixed rule. Some definitions have overlapping word counts for the various length-based story categories (e.g. short stories up to 10,000 words and novelettes 7,500 on up to 20,000). In addition, Amazon Kindle Short Reads (“Great Stories in One Sitting”) are listed by time to read and number of pages, not word count.
*As a general guideline, we can use the (modified) rules of the Nebula Awards. The Nebula Awards ignores the flash fiction category. I’ve included it here and modified short story, which they state is fewer than 7,500 words:
📌 Flash fiction – Fewer than 1,000 words
📌 Short story – At least 1,000 but fewer than 7,500 words*
📌 Novelette – At least 7,500 but fewer than 17,500 words
📌 Novella – At least 17,500 but fewer than 40,000 words
📌 Novel – 40,000 words or more
Those numbers align somewhat with other definitions I’ve seen. When publishing, always check submission guidelines!
5. What if I struggle to finish my short stories?
Try this simple trick:
📌 Write Act I for all your stories first.
📌 Then write Act II for each.
📌 Finally, finish Act III for all of them.
Keeping it simple keeps momentum going and banishes burnout.
6. What’s the best way to use this method daily?
🚀 Morning: Spend 15 minutes generating ideas with the 10X Story Matrix.
✍ Writing time: Immediately after creating or reviewing your lists of ideas, work on multiple stories using timed sprints.
🔄 Revision phase: Cycle through drafts, revising 1 at a time so you can focus.
Consistency = a steady stream of completed short stories!
7. Where can I publish my short stories?
Here are some options:
✔ Self-Publish – Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Your own website, Gumroad, Cardd, Medium, Substack
✔ Short Story Magazines – Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, The Atlantic
✔ Writing Competitions – Writers of the Future, Bridport Prize, NYC Midnight
Pro Tip: Build a short story collection, publish it as a book 📚 and then create a series for each story.